1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to a system and method for selection acceleration in a topology view. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for selecting nodes included in a topology view based upon their relationship to a primary node selection.
2. Description of the Related Art
A computer network can be complex, often including thousands of nodes, and requires a user, such as a system administrator, to manage the computer network. A node may be a server, a client, a printer, or other device that interfaces with components within a computer network. In order to manage the vast amount of nodes, a system administrator uses topology views to graphically view the relationships between the nodes.
Five principal topologies are used to display computer networks which are a mesh topology, a bus topology, a ring topology, a star topology, and a tree topology. A mesh topology shows devices which are connected with many redundant interconnections between network nodes. In a true mesh topology, each node has a connection to every other node in the network. A bus topology shows devices which are connected to a central cable, called a bus or backbone. Bus networks are relatively inexpensive and easy to install for small networks. For example, Ethernet systems use a bus topology. A ring topology shows devices which are connected to each other in the shape of a closed loop, such that each device is connected directly to two other devices, one on either side. Ring topologies are relatively expensive and difficult to install, but they offer high bandwidth and may span large distances.
A star topology shows devices which are connected to a central hub. Star networks are relatively easy to install and manage, but bottlenecks may occur because all data is passed through a hub. A tree topology combines characteristics of linear bus and star topologies. It consists of groups of star-configured workstations connected to a linear bus backbone cable. These topologies can also be mixed. For example, a bus-star network consists of a high-bandwidth bus, called the backbone, which connects a collection of slower-bandwidth star segments.
A computer network includes a corresponding physical topology and a logical topology. A physical topology corresponds to a physical layout of a network's devices. For example, the way in which workstations are connected to a network through the actual cables that transmit data is the physical topology (e.g. the physical structure of the network).
In contrast, a logical topology is the way in which signals act on network media, or the way in which the data passes through the network from one device to the next without regard to the physical interconnection of the devices. A network's logical topology is not necessarily the same as its physical topology. For example, twisted pair Ethernet is a logical bus topology in a physical star topology layout. In another example, a token ring network is a logical ring topology which is physically set up in a star topology. Logical topologies are bound to network protocols that direct how the data moves across a network. The Ethernet protocol, for example, is a common logical bus topology protocol.
A system administrator may wish to select a plurality of nodes in a topology that are related (i.e. connected). However, the nodes may be displayed on a topology view such that they are not all easily selected at once. A challenge found, therefore, is that it is tedious to select multiple nodes in a topological graph because many topological applications implement selection with either rubber-banding multiple resources, or by clicking each resource in succession. This process is rather difficult if a user wishes to select multiple nodes with relationship. More often than not, rubber banding an area selects extra resources that are typically not needed because a rubber band selection confines within a rectangle.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method to select a plurality of nodes which are related in an effective manner.